In any case, have a look at the following list. The thrust of my argument is that although literature is good to read, discuss, and write about, although great stories, poems, and plays present great language and characters, and plots, and settings, and issues and might, indeed, be timeless, providing invaluable cultural and moral lessons for us all, we do not need to go into literary terms in any depth. Which words on the following list are absolutely necessary for our English-language learners? [Here's another more erudite list: rhetorical devices.docx.]
A List of Common Literary Terms All Genres Archetype Perspective Irony (Situational, verbal, dramatic) Audience
FICTION Plot Conflict Resolution Flashbacks Foreshadowing Suspense Tone Theme Atmosphere Character: Round/Flat, Dynamic/Static Protagonist/Antagonist Setting: Cultural, Temporal, Geographical, Physical, etc. Point of view Unreliable narrator Omniscient narrator Limited Omniscient narrator Third-person narration First-person narration
POETRY Speaker/Persona Imagery/images End rhymes Alliteration Assonance Consonance Stanza Form: Free verse; Blank verse Italian sonnet (Petrarchan) vs English (Shakespearean) Meter/ Iambic pentameter Scansion/scan Enjambment Caesura Denotations Connotations Figurative Language Metaphor/Simile Extended metaphor / Conceit Symbol Allusions Personification Paradox Understatement Hyperbole
In any case, have a look at the following list. The thrust of my argument is that although literature is good to read, discuss, and write about, although great stories, poems, and plays present great language and characters, and plots, and settings, and issues and might, indeed, be timeless, providing invaluable cultural and moral lessons for us all, we do not need to go into literary terms in any depth. Which words on the following list are absolutely necessary for our English-language learners? [Here's another more erudite list: rhetorical devices.docx.]
A List of Common Literary Terms
All Genres
Archetype
Perspective
Irony (Situational, verbal, dramatic)
Audience
FICTION
Plot
Conflict
Resolution
Flashbacks
Foreshadowing
Suspense
Tone
Theme
Atmosphere
Character: Round/Flat, Dynamic/Static
Protagonist/Antagonist
Setting: Cultural, Temporal, Geographical, Physical, etc.
Point of view
Unreliable narrator
Omniscient narrator
Limited Omniscient narrator
Third-person narration
First-person narration
POETRY
Speaker/Persona
Imagery/images
End rhymes
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance
Stanza
Form:
Free verse;
Blank verse
Italian sonnet (Petrarchan) vs English (Shakespearean)
Meter/ Iambic pentameter
Scansion/scan
Enjambment
Caesura
Denotations
Connotations
Figurative Language
Metaphor/Simile
Extended metaphor / Conceit
Symbol
Allusions
Personification
Paradox
Understatement
Hyperbole
DRAMA
Acts, scenes, stage set, props
dramatis personae
soliloquy
asides
dramatic irony
fourth wall
tragic hero
comedy/tragedy
hamartia [error]
tragic flaw [moral failing]
hubris [excessive pride]
from Literary Terms,
http://angel.waol.org/section/default.asp?id=WAOL_OCLMASTERENGL111